LOWRI TURNER: I would respect stars a little more if they would admit they have talent and stop blabbing about having Imposter Syndrome!

As the biggest celebrity fraud of our time, Imposter Syndrome – where ‘sufferers’ fear that they are unworthy of their success and will be exposed for their inadequacy – is now the fashion accessory of the A-lister du jour.

Steve Coogan is the latest to claim this, telling Kirsty Young on her Young Again podcast that at the start of his career: ‘I felt a bit like, ‘How did I get here?’

Oh, pull that other one, Alan Partridge. Coogan is worth £19 million. His list of awards, including two Oscar nominations and numerous BAFTAs, is longer than the ingredients on a pack of ultra-processed doughnuts.

This is not someone who has retreated into the wings of life, afraid to be in the spotlight. On the contrary, Coogan has been central for thirty years. As a 22-year-old stand-up, he earned up to £1,000 a night.

During my own TV career I have worked with many comedians. If there’s any race less likely to exhibit Uriah Heep-like modesty, it’s them. In my experience, comics are narcissistic, ultra-competitive and would step over their own grandmother’s prone body for a headline spot.

This venal ambition could come from a place of secret pain – or it could be that they’re just really desperate for money, success and a nice car (Coogan has a penchant for Ferraris).

But the litany of highly successful people emerging as sufferers of Imposter Syndrome – a term first coined in the 1970s by American researchers focusing on high-achieving women – is increasing by the day.

They include Tom Hanks, Emma Watson, model Bella Hadid, former Facebook boss Sheryl Sandberg, former first lady Michelle Obama, Lady Gaga and Meghan Markle.

Meghan gave a keynote speech to the One Young World Summit last year, in which she said of her previous appearance at the summit in 2014, when she was best known for her role in the legal drama Suits: “I wondered if I was good enough was to even be there.’

I’m afraid to say that I just don’t believe any of it. To reach the greasy pole of success, you need the twin crampons of rock-solid determination and unwavering self-confidence.

Personally, I stand by Oprah, who stated earlier this year that she has never felt Imposter Syndrome. She credits her father for giving her the belief in her own abilities; and it was my parents who taught me a similar iron bar.

It’s not that I feel like I’m better than other people, it’s that I was raised to believe that doubting yourself is a waste of time. Instead of spending hours navel-gazing about why you might not be good enough, just get started and do it. The only failure is the inability to try.

There was only one time I wobbled. I was about twelve years old and was chosen for the netball team at school. I’m only five feet now, but I was probably less than five feet back then.

I told my dad I didn’t think I was good enough to play against the taller girls. He looked me in the eye and announced, “Think Kevin Keegan – jump higher.” (Soccer player Keegan was only 6 feet tall.)

And that’s what I’ve done ever since. When I was in the newspaper in my twenties and a promotion was on the horizon, I didn’t sit back and say, “Oh no, not my little self.” I have submitted an application for it.

When I was in my thirties and working in television, I didn’t pretend that I wasn’t worthy of being in front of the camera. I stepped forward and said, ‘Yes, I can do that.’

I hope I have taught my own children not to practice humility, but to be honest about their ambitions – and then work hard to achieve that ambition.

So why do so many stars belittle their own efforts? Why do they feel the need to tell us it was all a fluke? Maybe it’s an attempt to make those of us who drive cars other than Ferraris feel better.

Those false mea culpas of Imposter Syndrome send the message, “Look, I’m actually just like you (give or take a few million).” In a world full of social media ‘likes’, it is now not enough to be talented, focused and willing to give your best; you also have to be ‘humble’.

‘Connecting’ with fans is an important marketing tool. Or as my grandmother used to say, “No one likes to brag.”

Especially for female stars, it is crucial that you don’t ‘go above and beyond’.

We may succeed, but only if we are also kind, kind people. Inevitably, woke actress Emma Watson uses Imposter Syndrome to undermine her abilities.

‘When I get recognition for my acting now, I feel extremely uncomfortable. I have a tendency to turn inward on myself. “I feel like an impostor,” she says. Yawn. But it’s really depressing when even the truly inspirational powerhouse Michelle Obama says the same thing.

“I still have a little bit of Imposter Syndrome,” Michelle explained during her book tour, before adding, “I’m sharing that with you because we all have doubts about our abilities, about our power and what that power is.”

Do WE really do that? Perhaps we all have those strange moments when we realize that we have made a mistake and that we may turn out to be a little less capable than we had hoped.

But if you expect me to believe that most people, let alone stars, actually worry for years that they won’t be up to the task, then I’m afraid I just don’t believe you.

I so wish Michelle Obama would instead say, “I’m great and I know it,” no matter what those who might accuse her of boasting might say.

I also wish women wouldn’t use self-doubt as a form of bondage. ‘I’m so bad at my job…’, ‘I look terrible without make-up…’, ‘I need to lose weight.’

I wish we would start owning our success; If, instead of proclaiming our perceived shortcomings and imperfections, we women would share our strengths, perhaps others would see us as strong too, rather than taking our modesty as proof that we are not really up to the task after all .

There are, of course, people who exhibit the opposite of Imposter Syndrome, whose gigantic egos fail to recognize their own shortcomings.

They are almost all men, many are or were politicians (I’m looking at you, Matt Hancock). We have all met many such people in the workplace. They are absolutely annoying and can cause a lot of damage to an organization. But at least you can see them coming from miles away.

They don’t pretend to be oh-so-happy while secretly gunning for your job. Because as far as I’m concerned, only a fraudster could claim Imposter Syndrome.